Random Musings

Honest Work

Cash is the dirtiest thing people in retail handle. Cash is nasty because it passes through so many hands and is hidden in so many places. Usually you have no idea where money has been. Occasionally you can guess its origin which makes it worse. One morning last winter I had the opening shift at my retail gig. Right after we opened, a young lady came in wanting to buy shoes for her boyfriend. She was dressed in a pair of hot pants and a halter top which was brief enough that you could see most of her tattoos clearly. Because it was chilly outside she was wearing a rabbit fur jacket. Her feet were well protected in the event of high water by her platform stiletto heels. She could wade through a couple of inches of water before her feet would ever be in danger of getting moist. She picked a pair of very nice shoes that cost about $150. When we got to the register, she put her large hand bag on the counter and began, with two hands, pulling out wadded up bills out and putting them in front of me. The bills were all one and five dollar bills – mostly ones and they were all wadded up. I began picking up bills one at a time so I could straighten them out. This was an unpleasant job because the bills were all damp. I assumed she was a dancer who worked at a club without the benefit of high rollers. One at a time, I straightened out over 100 singles and about eight or nine fives. I had a hard time restraining the part of me with the hygiene issues because he desperately wanted to flee. I finished the sale and rushed to wash my hands but the bills were in my cash drawer for several more days.